#genghiskhan #riverindus #attock
Bagh e Neelab I Battle of the Indus I Gateway of India I Mysterious Tribe of Pothohar I Attock Fort

Special Thanks: Arshad Mughal, ‪@ArshadVLOG‬
Muhammad Asad Changezi
Umer Mughal
Music: Binu Kumar, Kerala, India
‪@SoundSFX‬ (Under License)

The Battle of the Indus was fought on the banks of the Indus River, on 24 November 1221, by two armies commanded by Shah Jalal al-Din Mingburnu of the Khwarazmian Empire, and Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire. The battle, which resulted in an overwhelming Mongol victory, was the concluding engagement in the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire.

After his father Muhammad II had died on an island in the Caspian Sea, Jalal al-Din assumed the title of Khwarazmshah and travelled eastwards. Escaping the Mongols several times, he reached Ghazni and started assembling a large force; he then defeated the Mongol commander Shigi Qutuqu at the Battle of Parwan. This upset victory drew the attention and ire of Genghis Khan, who gathered a force of at least 50,000 and moved towards the Shah, who had lost a large proportion of his force because of a dispute over plunder. Now unable to effectively combat the Khan, he retreated eastwards towards the Indus river; the Mongols caught up on the morning the Khwarazmians were due to cross.

The Shah's army, now numbering around 30,000, assumed a strong defensive position on the banks of the river. They acquitted themselves well in the early fighting, managing to drive back the Mongol forces despite being heavily outnumbered.

Both armies formed up for battle at dawn. Jalal al-Din took command of the center with 5,000 troops, including 700 bodyguards in reserve. Amin Malik took command of the Turks on the right wing while the Afghans manned the left wing, probably commanded by Temur Malik. The Shah anchored his left wing on a ridge that ran straight into the river, while the flank on the right wing was protected by the riverbank. With this placement, the Shah had taken away the Mongol advantage of fighting a mobile battle of outflanking manoeuvres and by fighting in a confined space, their advantage of having superior numbers were reduced.

Genghis deployed his forces in a crescent-shape, pinning the Khwarazmians against the river; he personally commanded the reserve to make sure the Shah wouldn't be able to break through the Mongol lines and escape. The Mongol right was commanded by Chagatai and the left by his brother Ögedei. The Mongol army outnumbered Jalal al-Din's forces by a large margin but they probably were exhausted from their forced march across the mountains and Genghis Khan may have engaged the enemy before his full force had gathered.

At dawn on 24 November, the battle began with the wings engaging each other; the Khwarazmian left held their strong defensive position despite the Khan consistently feeding in new troops, while Ögedei was driven back on the Mongol left. Realizing the strength of the ridge, Genghis sent a general named Bela Noyan with an elite bahadur tumen to climb it and outflank the Khwarazmians. Jalal al-Din attacked the Mongol center; although his personal biographer al-Nasawi has him reach Genghis Khan and put him to flight. Even though the Mongols could not use their arrows effectively in the crowded conditions, they managed to stop the Khwarazmian advance, killing Temur Malik in the mêlée.

Although many men were lost during Bela Noyan's climb, the Mongol detachment successfully scaled the ridge and attacked the Shah's left wing from the flank and rear. The Khwarazmian right was also retreating, and eventually broke; Amin Malik was intercepted and killed as he tried to flee to Peshawar. Even though it was evident that the battle was now lost, Jalal al-Din continued to fight until noon. After his maternal cousin Akhash Malik implored him to flee, he charged the now Mongol-controlled ridge, breaking through the lines. He then rode his horse off the edge of the 30-foot cliff, but managed to reach the opposite shore. Witnessing the feat and calling his sons to witness, Genghis forbade his archers to shoot the Shah and stated "Fortunate should be the father of such a son".

Although the Shah's life was spared, the lives of his men, most of whom had followed their leader's example, were not. In total, only around four thousand reached the other bank, with many being shot in the water by Mongol archers. The Shah’s camp, harem and treasures were captured, and all male members of his family, including his seven year old and infant sons, were killed.

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